1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electric vehicle control apparatus, and more particularly to an electric vehicle control apparatus having a low-fuel-consumption instruction acquisition means for acquiring a low-fuel-consumption drive instruction from a user.
2. Related Art
In recent years, so-called electric vehicles such as environmentally friendly electric cars, hybrid cars, and fuel-cell cars have been attracting attention. From the viewpoint of friendliness to the environment, promoting energy savings is desirable. To improve fuel consumption of a vehicle, vehicle maneuverability, comfort of a cabin space, and the like are sacrificed to some extent by limiting the power performance, air conditioning capacity, and the like of the vehicle. Therefore, it is desirable that the driver be able to select an energy saving mode by performing a simple operation. The control section of the vehicle is provided with a switch or the like for giving a low-fuel-consumption drive instruction. Such a switch is called, for example, an “eco-mode switch” or simply an “eco-switch.”
For example, JP-A No. Hei 10-248106 discloses an electric car control apparatus for switching the running motor between a normal mode and an eco-mode in response to operation of a mode selection switch. The normal mode has a high output of 100% and the eco-mode has a low output of 60%, and in the eco-mode the output is gradually increased to 90% at the time of climbing a hill where power shortage occurs.
Thus, the switch for a low-fuel-consumption drive instruction is provided, so that the driver can select running with low fuel consumption. According to the example of JP-A No. Hei 10-248106, when the eco-mode is selected, the low output of 60% is set. Thus, the output is limited with priority given to the reduction of fuel consumption. In this case, if the output on a regenerative side is also limited, electric energy to be recovered is reduced and a braking force serving as a regenerative brake is lowered. If the insufficient braking force is supplemented by, for example, a hydraulic brake, the fuel consumption may fail to be reduced.
The present invention provides an electric vehicle control apparatus which enables effective recovery of regenerative power when a low-fuel-consumption drive instruction is given.